keep your eyes open
by TalkingToTulips
Summary: He was the mentor looking for a way out. She was the tribute stuck with an uncertain fate. In District 8, Klaus and Caroline find each other.. Klaroline AU Hunger Games brought over from Tumblr


For the last five years since he had won his games at age 17, Klaus Mikealson had been mentoring the games. His mentor had been a woman and a man, the latter of which had taken the opportunity to retire from mentoring now he had a new male counterpart to take his place. Soon after his first time mentoring, the woman called Rosaline withdrew gracefully from her mentoring career as well, spouting the excuse that she was doing it so she could spend more time with her family, leaving Klaus by himself. That year, they hadn't brought either of their District 8 tributes home that year but Klaus was determined to do what he could at least bring them to peace and relative comfort when they went. Stupid concept, but it was the rules that he went by in the next four years.

After another unsuccessful year of mentoring, a 15 year old called Jade came home victorious his third time around, but he'd barely done anything to help her win, just sat back and watched really. She was the type that flourished in high pressure situations and was unforgiving. Klaus didn't really like being around her before the games, and stayed pretty distant from the girl afterwards even after she moved into the Victor's Village with him and the three other winners their district had living. The year after that, the male tribute got to the final two but the girl died from infection of a wound in a cave. Better than being slaughtered, Klaus thought to himself as he saw the precious little thing's flame go out.

The capitol ignored him mostly except the women who seemed to throw themselves at him; he never showed much interest in them or their lifestyles and eventually they got the message. But every year brought a new games and a new pack of women dying for a slice of him. His brothers simply suggested that he get married and that would repel them, but Klaus wasn't the sort to get married and have kids. His brothers didn't have the memories and the issues and the nightmares that Klaus had. He would rather suffer with their flirting than try and make someone love him enough to put that all aside.

It seemed impossible.

At the reaping for his sixth year as mentor, Klaus was tired and ready to bring home another winner so he could palm the mentoring duties onto them and Jade once they were both old enough to face the horrors of letting down kids again and again. Klaus had stopped worrying about the moral dilemma that came with such a decision long ago. He wanted to slink back into the hole he came from and never come back out just like Rosaline had. He put on a brave face as the names were pulled out, took a moment to commit them to memory. For the ladies, a Miss Caroline Forbes and the gentleman offered up a Dean Johnson. Both aged 17. The age he'd been when he'd become a victor, he thought to himself as the names were pulled out.

The girl, a blonde with long flowing hair especially conditioned for the occasion and a pretty new dress, looked absolutely terrified as she began to the platform. She didn't cry, she remained shocked and scared as they walked her past the parents. A woman reached out and caught her hand, halting her march to her death for a second. Her mother, or Klaus assumed so, kissed her daughter's hand and was weeping openly. A man who must have been her father had his hand on his wife's shoulder as they wretched the teenager from her mother's grasp and they continued onto the platform. The older woman then began to sob loudly in the silence onto her husband's shoulders.

The boy was far more reserved, almost strolled up to the platform to shake the girl's hand. She didn't seem like she was there, her eyes were on her parents but the rest of her was white as paper and out of this world. Klaus watched as they shook hands and began into the justice building. He took that as his cue and got up to leave. He knew it was awful, but he automatically picked favourites just on behaviour. And between these two, the girl was more human and affected by the idea of being killed by the careers in front of the nation. The boy seemed to welcome it, and Klaus never trusted confident pricks like that. They usually got themselves killed. If he had a choice on which one to bring home, he would be bringing back Caroline Forbes and reunite her family.

She was quiet on the train, simply stared out of the window with an unknown expression. She would straighten her skirt or play with her hair, politely decline food when offered without speaking an entire word. Klaus hadn't seen her speak yet since she'd been reaped but her parents had left from saying goodbye with freely streaming tears as was she. Dean was more talkative and piled the food on, Klaus would admit it was delicious but after something as sickening as the reaping, he picked at his food. She stayed there for the entire day with talking, just looking out the window.

Dean retired to bed and left Klaus and the girl. He eventually forced her to drink some tea with sleep syrup in it so she would nod off naturally. It was a common technique he used on the shocked ones so they would get a decent night of rest to process all of this. Klaus carried her to her bedroom and lay her on the bed, tucking her into a soft blanket and leaving her to sleep before the real terror began.

The morning after, she was only slightly more talkative. Caroline was polite, only speaking to ask for the jam or make small talk with their escort. She never mentioned the upcoming games or her family when the District 8 escort, Camille asked about them. Klaus let her deflect any questions like that onto him so she wouldn't be in the spotlight; he noticed the puffy eyes and the sadness in her pupils and knew she needed a little bit more time. Klaus and Dean chattered on about their own families and daily lives for the duration of breakfast, so Caroline could sneak away to her room again.

"She's not going to be like that the whole time, is she?" Camille asked innocently, Klaus rolled his eyes and pulled some whiskey into his coffee.

After the hoopla of the parade, Caroline got into training. Klaus realized she was a fast runner, faster than the average tribute and her survival skills were top notch in a day or so. She usually avoided weapons training after being pinned by a trainer in front of the tributes and her face flooding in embarrassment. She was okay with the bow, a little better with the sword and the knife throwing but she hadn't the face or the heart to make an offensive blow. Klaus knew she would only try and defend her own life; she wouldn't try and take another's and that would be a weakness for her against the ruthless careers that dominated the games.

Only a couple of victors had never killed a tribute and even they never planned it. Klaus had spent the whole games last year watching broken little Annie Cresta tread water, the madwoman who hadn't been seen since. He was not part of that innocent crowd with no blood on their hands. His hands were plenty dirty. He knew that he had to get Caroline used to the idea that she might have to take a life in the games, so that she wouldn't go crazy the moment she saw someone die like Annie had. Your mentality had to be strong to get through this thing. But no matter how many times he tried to bring it up, she shut down completely when he mentioned it. Her voice would bark an explanation then that would be the end of it. Usually she left the room, sometimes she stayed.

After a while, things turned nasty and personal. When Dean tried to engage her in the killing aspect over dinner and Klaus chipped in with a helpful comment, the girl simply slammed down her hand weakly and announced, "I'm not like you! I don't kill people for anything, and I certainly don't want to win these games if it means that I'll end up like you because you're no better than the Capitol!" Klaus' face went starch white out of offence as the words fell from her mouth as she got up and ran out the room. He could feel her sobbing as she disappeared down the hallway.

Camille went after her because she was the tender one who liked to hold people when they cried. Klaus couldn't help but think that Caroline was right. He was a district dweller but he played along and sent these kids to their deaths year after year. He was no better than them. Pretending that he was in any way was pathetic and he should be all Capitol or all district 8. If he wanted out of the mentoring business, he needed at least one mentor over the age of 18.

Jade was only about to turn 17 years old so she wouldn't be ready for another year. Dean would be an idiot at mentoring if he survived, and he knew that Caroline didn't want to go home. She knew the emotional pains and costs that came with victory more than he did and he'd actually won. She would refuse being a mentor; she couldn't do that for love or money. Caroline was a loving and sweet soul who had no place in the games and that was her greatest weakness, no matter how highly she trained herself otherwise. Klaus wondered that night whether he'd bet on the right kid as he finished a bottle of whiskey.

On the day of the games, he decided to be with her when she went into the arena. Dean's stylist agreed to go with him for the final moments. She let a tear or so loose as he helped her into her jacket and put on her token. It was a fabric bracelet woven by her mother when Caroline was a little girl, her name etched into the textile. A plain thing but it would keep her going. He sighed and pushed a strand of her hair off her face. "Tell you what, Caroline." He decided now was the time to barter with her. "You don't want to kill anyone, fine. Just keep yourself safe and I'll do my best to bring you home with your hands clean." He told her softly.

Caroline began to nod in agreement when he interrupted, he wasn't finished. "But, if it comes down to it and you have no other choice and I mean, no other choice, then you kill them. If you can't run or defend yourself long enough to ward them off, you kill them and know that you would deal with swiftest death out of all the people in that arena. You can't save any of them, 23 of you aren't coming home and I'd rather have a heavy heart like yours win than an empty one like those bastards under Finnick Odair." He muttered in a pleading tone, his hands cupping her cheeks to make sure that she looked him in the eyes and knew he was serious. "Deal?" He asked her gently, trying to gauge her reaction desperately.

Klaus can tell that she's trying not to cry because she's about to face 23 people who want to kill her, they won't be forgiving about her crocodile tears. Caroline took a deep breath and nodded once, even though her jaw is still in his iron grip. Klaus sighed in relief and pressed his lips to her forehead without even thinking. "Kiss for good luck?" She asked him softly in a tearful voice. He chuckled and nodded as the 1 minute signal rang through the air. Caroline sighed and looked over at the tube that would take her into the arena with a thick swallow, her throat working as she did. Klaus wrapped his arms around her in a quick hug. "Is this goodbye?" She asked as she nuzzled into his shoulder for a couple more seconds, unable to look at the glass container any longer.

"Not goodbye. At least, not forever." He promised her gently as he kissed the top of head softly and brushed a hand down her hair and onto her back. He doesn't promise her that she'll come back and she knows why, but the comfort is great all the way. Klaus muttered last minute instructions into her ear like a lullaby. Find water, food if she could find it. Stay out of people's way. Don't get caught asleep. Avoid the careers. Form alliances if she had to but not for too long that you became attached. Run from the cornucopia as soon as you could; grab what you could on the way. Caroline sighed heavily and stepped out of his arms, beginning towards the tube with heavy footing.

She stepped inside and Klaus watched as the seconds ticked away. Caroline didn't cry as she rose up and was gone. Once she was out of his sight, he raced to the mentor's station so he could catch the end of the count down. The rest of the mentors piled in about the same time as he did, all wanting to see who would be losing tributes at the cornucopia blood bath. He took a seat in their designated room for the games as the countdown reached one, Caroline standing on her platform with new determination in her eyes. He was bringing this girl home if it killed him.

The moment the countdown ended, Caroline essentially became a hunted deer. Not only did she have a lot of people that wanted her dead, but she also bolted the moment she could into the safety of the woods like a little fawn running for its mother. Klaus sat down in his chair and watched the multitude of screens, one for each tribute and two wider screens for what was being screened live to the nation. Under Caroline's screen was her district number as she ran into the woods, grabbing a knife as she did to protect herself if necessary.

The bloodbath continued with mentors shaking their heads and ordering the alcohol. There really should be a bar at the back of this room with the amount the mentors went through. One district was knocked out in the first hour of the games, the mentors looking sullen and toasting their tributes sadly as they did. Klaus propped his feet up on the desk that sat in front of his chair and leaned back, his eyes intently on the blonde, occasionally flickering to Dean to check he hadn't died yet either. They couldn't get sponsors until the bloodbath was finished because it was pointless so for now, Klaus was stuck in a room of mentors, of varying degrees of likability.

From that moment on, he was glued to the screens as Caroline ran for almost an hour virtually nonstop, looking for a water source and shelter like he'd told her. Dean allied quickly with a girl from District 10 and they began off in the opposite direction. Caroline was faster so she got far away before anyone had enough of the cornucopia to come after her. Klaus ordered a bottle of whiskey and ignored the looks from the career mentors who were all discussing schmoozing tactics to get sponsors in early. Klaus got what he wanted when he needed it, the perks of being attractive and mysterious, women loved the attention he gave them if only temporary.

The night fell and Caroline held her own, she climbed into a tree to spend the night and nobody came anywhere near her as she slept. Her knife was clasped in her hand tightly, ready to strike if someone disturbed her slumber. The days continued on like this, whilst the canons boomed once or twice a day maybe, Caroline traveled around but stuck to the same general area. Dean moved around more with his ally and killed three between the pair of them in the first week. Klaus could see these being a long games and began to decrease the potency of the alcohol he drank. He kept waiting for the moment Caroline would face her choice or Dean's ally would turn on him.

Once the district 7 tributes were gone after six days, their mentors, Gemini and Dash decided to be good sports. They brought Klaus food occasionally, though he barely ate more than Caroline and Dean were getting because it felt wrong. Gemini tried to pry the bottle from him and Dash went to schmooze tributes, explaining that Klaus was spending so much with his winning team that he couldn't pull himself away to get sponsors. The sponsors of course lapped that idea and the discussions began, offers came pouring in. He didn't spoil them, he sent Dean some water and bread and Caroline some hot soup when he could see the hunger on her face. She was tired, hungry and thirsty but her hands were still clean.

"What's her game then? Not up for killing?" Gemini asked on the eighth day of the games, taking a gulp of the whiskey Klaus had and passing the bottle back to him. He nodded; strangely proud that Caroline hadn't snapped and lost herself in the games yet. She was focused on survival not on murder and he couldn't help but smile when he thought about it. Damn, he would think to himself, if she got through these games without spilling a drop of blood…Gemini interrupted his thoughts with her usual chipper, motherly tone. "Good for her, but you are a different story. When was the last time you took a shower? Or changed your clothes? Or shaved? Or ate a proper meal?" She asked, scrapping a hand down Klaus' scruff to show what she meant.

"Shush, I'm trying to watch." He cut her off as Caroline set up a snare to catch something to eat. On another screen, Dean was by the river with his ally, who by the way was called Irene, doing nothing in particular. He was a little injured and the impact of what he'd done was beginning to set in on him, Klaus could tell. Gemini watched the screens before sighing heavily and standing up to leave the room as some of the career tributes came in. The mentor who'd stayed behind looked troubled as the group approached him, obviously worried. Klaus jumped in and cut the guy a break by being the bearer of bad news. "You lost one whilst you were out to lunch, Finnick." Klaus called over without lifting his attention from the screen where Caroline was finishing her trap.

He was so enveloped that he didn't even want the satisfaction of seeing Finnick's face when he realized that one of his tributes had poisoned themselves accidentally. Klaus would have laughed, had the butt of the joke not been the death of a thirteen year old girl. He mourned all the losses sustained in these games, because the capitol certainly wouldn't, not for long anyway.

Ten days in, ten tributes left and Klaus still had both in the game. He wasn't pleased with himself, more determined now. After constant poking and prodding from Gemini, Klaus left Dash in charge of watching his tributes whilst he showered, changed and had a decent meal, wishing Caroline was there to try the salmon risotto. He popped one of the magic pills used to keep you awake that the mentors hoarded at this stage of the games, having only had maybe an hour or two of sleep in his chair every night since the games began and only ever when Caroline was safe and asleep. Dash and Gemini promised to wake him if something happened.

Klaus arrived back at his spot and knew something would be different about today. He had a feeling he would lose one of them today, or something equally awful. Caroline was trekking through the arena looking for food and shelter for the night, Dean was still with Irene. That was when it happened and Klaus would never forget this moment as long as he lives. A tribute, a lone female tribute from District 5 tackled Caroline before she could comprehend what was happening and the girl fell to the floor with the another girl. Thankfully, her assailant had no weapon so didn't make a move. She was a year younger than Caroline so the girls tussled for a bit, rolling around to try and gain control of the situation and throwing punches and slaps.

Klaus leaned forward in his seat, watching the girls fight. It was streaming live on the flat screens now, the girl fight miles from any other tribute or so it seemed. He felt sick knowing this was probably comical for those outside in the capitol. The girl, who Klaus thinks was called Natalia prised Caroline's chin up to expose the skin of her neck horribly as it stretched over the structure and muscles of her throat. Was this a really bad and desperately painful attempt to snap her neck? Klaus had no idea what the hell was going on but Caroline was desperately reaching for her knife where it sat on the forest floor as quietly as she could as the girl continued her torture.

"Klaus, your brother's calling." Camille announced, poking her head around the door. In perfect union, Klaus, Gemini and Dash turned and shushed her. The careers all chuckled at this but were equally as interested into what was happening. The district 5 mentor clearly had no idea what was going on here so Klaus did the nice thing and handed over his vodka bottle. He'd moved on from vodka to whiskey quicker than Finnick Odair moved between women. Camille watched the screens to figure out what was so interesting before ducking back out the room, nattering to Elijah that Klaus would call him back later. Klaus snorted, that was highly unlikely whilst this was happening.

Caroline got her knife and put it against the girl's throat. Natalia automatically recoiled and gave Caroline the time to slip from under her petite body and they were both on their feet. Natalia pulled out a knife of hers and the two of the circled each other. Klaus swallowed thickly, this would be the moment of truth. Had Caroline really agreed to their terms? "Come on, sweetheart." He muttered to himself as the room went quiet, no longer interested in the jovial team of careers by the river or Dean and Irene setting up a snare. They wanted to see whether little Caroline would do it. Her eyes were full of fear but she held her own.

The girl ran towards her with the knife poised but Caroline ducked in time and the circling began again, Gemini taking the vodka bottle from the district 5 mentor (Rubik) so she could drink. This continued a few times before the girl made a particular powerful thrust at the girl. This time Caroline caught her and pinned her arms to her body with one arm around the girl's elbows, disarming her. It went tense in the room for a few seconds as they waited for her to slit her throat. Klaus snatched the bottle back and gulped it down, Dash tapping his feet next to him.

Klaus knew that Caroline wouldn't kill an unarmed child, so he didn't make any noises of complaint like the career mentors did when she let Natalia go, pushing her away from her body and telling her to go this time, holding both knives to show she wasn't kidding. It was then that another tribute with crazy eyes from district 9 ran out the trees from behind Caroline towards them with an axe. Natalie screamed and bolted but Caroline held her ground, turned and threw the knife she'd taken from the girl into the boy's chest. He looked down at his wound, dropped the axe then fell to the floor, dead.

Klaus had been right, Caroline was swift in her dealing of death, it must have been only 30 seconds between the moment the knife left her hand to the moment the tribute dropped. Klaus' face was white because it had happened so fast and Caroline was crying streams of tears as she stood there, not caring if Natalia came back with a machine gun.

She didn't retrieve the knife; she had one in her hand. Caroline wiped her eyes and took off into the trees to find shelter. Klaus drank for the pair of them as she fell to her knees and emptied what contents of her stomach she had in pure disgust of herself. His eyes softened at the poor creature's helplessness, crying and sitting on the forest floor in disbelief. The boy had been eighteen years old, Klaus didn't want to know his name but the district nine mentors got up, shook hands, left and didn't come back. There was no need now they had no more tributes to watch anymore. That night, when there were minimal mentors in the room, only Rubik and Haymitch, the rest all asleep, Klaus let tears flow for Caroline as she slept in a tree, the tear tracks on her face.

The next day, like some awful tit for tat, Klaus lost Dean. Well, Dean and Irene both fell prey to the career tributes but they died allies. Klaus thought that it was a comfort that the boy at least died with a friend by his side, going as far as to shout her name as the district 1 tribute chopped into the girl's lung with an axe. Klaus flinched when the axe fell on Dean's neck and took a huge gulp of brandy from the glass Gemini had brought (moving on once more, don't worry though, Finnick's still ahead with four women to Klaus' three drinks.)

That left the one from district 1, two from district 2, one from district 4, Natalia and Caroline. Six tributes to go before this would all be over. Klaus sent Caroline some food because she didn't leave the tree, she just cried. He knew Caroline wasn't in the state to hunt or protect herself from harm, so supplied her some rolls and water, as well as a little note. It was short but comforting as he could make it for her. 'Six to go, love. Stay safe.' He hoped that the rest would just kill themselves off and leave Caroline alone in her tree.

The alliance broke down the next day, the four tributes deciding to take their separate roads to death. Klaus watched as the tribute from four fell victim to Natalia, who'd found the axe left over by the district nine tribute. Finnick was officially out the running, and Klaus couldn't help but smirk at that. He just really didn't like the guy, with his persona. Klaus knew it was all an act; he could have put on the same act if he'd wanted to. After all, he'd seen the guy panic like Klaus did now with his tribute last year, so desperate to bring home little Annie Cresta so Klaus knew that Finnick had a heart after all, and just chose to hide it. That's what he didn't like.

On the same day, the tribute from one and one of the tributes from two went head to head and one came out on top. Caroline still up in her tree, but no longer crying. She obviously thought it was pointless to leave good shelter and hiding when the others could kill themselves over victory. He could see the look in her, the idea that she could win was finally implanted in her brain. Only one, two and five were left. Caroline could relax for now. Of course, with four left, that meant the capitol would bring on a surprise. And what a surprise it was.

The fog was awful and thick, cloying stuff, Klaus could see from the look at it. Caroline jumped from the tree the moment she saw it and ran. Natalia was closer to the stuff and let it envelop her, thinking that it wasn't toxic on inhalation. She coughed up her guts and died alone, Klaus raised a toast in her memory as the mentors watched patiently. Gemini was holding her own bottle now, an avid supporter of Team Caroline. Caroline raced ahead of it and made to the lake, emerging into the water as it passed over her in a great wave. She stayed under for a scary amount of time but it eventually finished haunting the lake, and continued on its journey. Caroline came up for air and lay on the banks of the water, gasping in clean air.

Twenty minutes and two more fog victims, they announced her winner of the 71st hunger games. Klaus stood up in his chair but didn't cheer, Gemini and Dash did. They jumped into each other's arms and danced for their victory, some of the mentors looking approving of this winner. Klaus was collected from the mentor's room and escorted to the hovercraft that would collect Caroline from the arena and take her home. He bounced on the balls of his feet as they zoomed to the arena space and picked her up from the side of the lake.

When Klaus first his eyes on her properly for the first time in two weeks, he elbowed someone out of the way to wrap a blanket around the still wet and shaken girl, cupping her jaw to get a look at a deep cut on her cheek from where it had hit a branch coming down from the tree. She didn't speak; she panted after spending almost five minutes under water for safety and held onto the shock blanket. She seemed to finally realise that he was there as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, telling their attendant she wouldn't be leaving his sight. They brought her into a room and gave her some warm clothes to change into, which she did shakily, Klaus' back turned.

"K-Klaus?" She stammered softly to signal that he could turn away. Her hair was still wet and her cheek was still bleeding but she was now wearing a white vest and some plain white cotton trousers with sandals. She looked like a mental patient but she was safe. Her skin matched the snow white of her clothes and she wrapped the blanket around herself once more, sitting down on a table they would examine her on. Klaus walked over and wrapped both arms around her, letting her tuck her head under his chin and begin to sob openly.

"Shush." He drawled out softly, rubbing her arm like he had the day she'd entered the arena, a female attendant hovering by the entrance politely. Caroline cried loudly, they must hear her in the halls of the craft but she didn't care. She mumbled about her experiences, the boy she'd killed and other incoherent ramblings about her time in the games. This was not a happy ending, by far, but Caroline lived and that was better than nothing, to Klaus at least. They could have her for the interviews and the victory tour but he would be there every step of the way. "It'll all be okay now, love, you're safe. I promise you. I'll make sure of it myself." This time, he would able to keep that promise to her.

* * *

After the games, it seemed like things went back to normal for Caroline and Klaus. The interview went by quickly with a fake smile plastered on Caroline's face with a pretty dress and sparkling eyes. Klaus stayed to her side like glue, waiting for her to break down and start sobbing again like she had the moment they got her out of the arena. Every time he asked whether she was okay, she just smiled and said she was great, she was alive after all, she pointed out. Once all the formalities were dealt with, Klaus and Caroline started home to district 8.

That's when Caroline became not okay again. Klaus was walking to the bar car to get some liquor to send him to sleep when he heard the screaming. He furrowed his brow and knocked the door to Caroline's room, telling her he was coming in. She was too preoccupied to listen with her nightmares and screaming so he slid the door open. He knew what to do in this situation; Rebekah had had nightmares since they were children, nightmares of being reaped. He took Caroline's wrist and pinned them to the bed with one hand and stroked her hair with the other.

"Shush, Caroline, shush, it's okay. I'm here." He murmured into her ear gently as her screaming subsided into a lull of mutters. Caroline's breathing was heavy and erratic as Klaus kept her down to stop her from hurting herself. It took a couple minutes but she opened her eyes and looked down, dazed and confused. But also scared and guilty, the exact look that had been in her life when she threw the knife into that tribute's chest. Klaus took away his hands and rubbed her upper arms soothingly as he kissed her forehead. "It was just a nightmare, Caroline. It's okay." He promised her with a gentle sigh.

Caroline nodded understandingly before nuzzling into Klaus' chest as the tears began to fall down her cheeks softly. "I can't even look at myself in the mirror, that family must want me dead, those poor families, and those poor children." She mumbled to him. Klaus hummed to soothe her and pulled her closer to his body so she would feel comforted. Caroline was freezing cold so she fell into the warmth of his body. He rubbed her shoulder and let her cry it out. "I just want to disappear into oblivion and never go back to that wretched place again. But I have to."

"No, you don't have to, Caroline. One more time for the victory tour then you'll never leave district 8 again if you don't want to." Klaus promised her. Caroline sniffed and wiped her eyes, looking up at him as if asking him what he was promising was true. Klaus nodded reassuringly and kissed his forehead gently. Caroline sighed heavily, completely trusting of her mentor before rocking back and forth in his arms. He kept her close and continued to talk into her head soft promises that she would be safe and happy from now on, that he would help her and he wouldn't leave her.

Klaus wished that someone had been so caring to him when he was struggling with the fact that he'd taken no less than four lives in the arena. He'd done what he had to survive, seen the other tributes as a means to an end in the arena but once the reality sets in, some tributes just can't take it. They killed actual people, children, with their whole lives ahead of them, all lost because of them. Caroline had only taken one life and Klaus was glad, had she taken another, she would have probably gone mad long before they announced her winner. She stopped crying and just lay against his chest, propped upright by his arms around her until she eventually fell asleep.

Klaus lay her back down on the bed and tucked her in before kicking off his shoes and lying beside her, wrapping an arm around her waist to keep her safe in his hold. Caroline relaxed into the feeling of him keeping the nightmares away in her sleep and Klaus watched her sleep, waiting for her to start screaming again. She didn't wake again the entire night.


End file.
